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New Patent Classification System

Dec 05, 2012

Are you an inventor? Have you ever wanted to file a patent?

Changes concerning the classification system are coming. Beginning January 1, 2013 a new classification system will be in place. The United States Patent and Tradmark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office have been collaborating since 2010 to put together a classification system to incorporate the best practices of both systems. This joint collaboration resulted in the formation of the Cooperative Patent Classification or CPC for short. Patent searches will be easier and more efficient using a global classification system.

I wanted to simply explain the changes you will be confronted with if you want to file a patent. I read the newsrelease from the USPTO and frankly with all of the acronyms (an alphabet soup) it just isn't an easy read. But if you want read it yourself, follow this link: http://www.cooperativepatentclassification.org/index.html.

Your local USPTO contact is Karen Kitchens, Intellectual Property/Documents Librarian, Wyoming State Library, karen.kitchens@wyo.gov. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Karen Kitchens by telephone at 307-777-7281, or by email to karen.kitchens@wyo.gov. Or the national Patent and Trademark Resource Center Office by telephone at 800-435-7735 option 2, or by email to ptrcoffice@uspto.gov.